Maxime de la Rocheterie on Marie-Antoinette

"She was not a guilty woman, neither was she a saint; she was an upright, charming woman, a little frivolous, somewhat impulsive, but always pure; she was a queen, at times ardent in her fancies for her favourites and thoughtless in her policy, but proud and full of energy; a thorough woman in her winsome ways and tenderness of heart, until she became a martyr."

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Liturgical conversations have resurfaced with a vengeance over the
past few days. Just a few points there: A few days ago, a church
historian was quoted as saying, “You have to remember that Benedict was a clotheshorse.”
What that expert fails to recognize was that Benedict’s attention to
papal garb was not about vanity – I mean – really. It was about what he
was always about: history And not history as a museum, out of an
antiquarian interest, but as a link from the present to the past. The
red shoes – so maligned even by Catholics who should know better – are a
symbol of blood. Blood , people. The blood of the martyrs
and the blood of Christ on which His vicar stands, and through him, all
of us. Popes – yes, even John XXIII and Paul VI – wore them until John
Paul II stopped. Then Benedict reinstated them. That is, he humbled
himself before history and symbol and put the darn things on.

Why did he reinstate them? Because he was vain, monarchical and
arrogant? Because he was out of touch with the poor? Because he was, in
the terms of the esteemed professor, a “clotheshorse?” Because they
look good? I doubt it, because, you know, they don’t, not really.
Maybe – just maybe – because he believes was they symbolize? That his
office is rooted in the blood of the martyrs, especially Peter? And
that it is good for the Pope in the 21st century to maintain this link
to and through other Popes who have done the same thing, to Peter, and
then to Christ?

[...]

For me, it comes down to this. Both of these Popes were and are
pastors. Both have given their lives for us, for Christ. We can – and
should be open to being – taught by both. All I’m saying is that – as
Pope Francis himself has acknowledged in his own words these past few
days – Pope Benedict was all about Christ. He spent 8 years as your
Pope, “proposing Jesus Christ” through his words and actions – even his
red shoes. If Pope Francis’ actions so far preach Christ more clearly
to you then so be it. Christ is who is important, and we are a Church
of great diversity for a reason. But what has been so bizarre and even
saddening over the past few days is a tone and implication that Benedict
was somehow about something else besides Jesus Christ. (Read entire post.)

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